Plastic bags and other nonrigid containers which have a single opening through which items are placed into the space defined by the container are very popular for their light weight and ease of use. However, the lack of rigidity in such containers can also become an inconvenience when it is desirable to hold the container in an upright and open position while placing items into the container, especially when a single user is attempting to do so. Devices are known which represent others attempts to address this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,011 to Rylander discloses a substantially planar body which may be bent and inserted into a flexible container and released therein to stretch the wall of the container and hold the container in an open and upright position. While such devices constitute a contribution to the art, the known devices still suffer from their failure to adequately combine flexibility with the ability to retain memory of their original shape so that, upon release after folding and inserting the same into a nonrigid container, the device meets with the interior surface of the container to stretch and retain the container in an upright and open position on a consistent basis during period of repeated use. Rather, the heretofore known devices are fabricated from materials which tend to break after initial or repeated usage, or are not forgiving enough to prevent tearing of conventional plastic bags and similar containers. In addition, the known devices are configured so as to make their insertion into an empty container awkward while also making their removal from a filled container difficult. For example, the devices are configured for removal through the use of asymmetrical application of pulling force which tends to cause the container to tip over during removal of the device.
Accordingly, a need still exists for a panel which is fabricated from material having sufficient rigidity and shape memory to open and retain the container when disposed therein while also being sufficiently flexible and otherwise configured to be easily removed from, and to avoid damage to, the container with which it is used.